johns73

Hello i was wondering if someone could give me some advise on a good size furnace to buy for a new 24' x 30' garage/vette shop i will be building very soon. :party: it will have 8' side walls and completly finished inside we will be useing natural gas. Thanks John :)

mrvette

I had a house furnace in my garage up north, similar size work bay....but it was 3 car garage...total....just heated the one bay though....

at first it was Propane, then converted to nat gas....either way, I would not bother to build in the unit the way the previous owner did, just get it off the floor for code/fumes reasons, and leave the top off, running any ducts along the ceiling perimeter inside if youwant....mine went up top like in a house, under the roof....I fail to see the need.....just use flex ducting...

frankly leaving the top off the furnace will provice enough warm air that in a garage setting you will be fine....

GENE

James

My garage is 21 x 21.
I have a Modine Hot Dawg natural gas furnace that hangs from the celling in the corner of my garage. It has regular thermostat, power vent, and a number of safety features. Above my garage I have the celling insulated, the garage door is insulated, and 2 of the 3 walls are insulated. I can set the thermostat on 55 degrees and even on the coldest Iowa winter day the unit will run for about 5 minutes every 20 to 25 minutes. I have been real happy with it. Small, compact, and fairly inexpensive unit. If I want I can crank it up to what ever I want and it will heat it real quick like.
Here is a link to the place I bought it from: http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/heater.shtml
These guys were about the cheapest I could find at the time.

johns73

thanks for the reply gene, do know what btu that furnace was?

stpman

I have a 20x20 attatched with a hanging 80,000 BTU gas fired heater. I can get it up to 75 degrees in the dead of winter if I wanted. usually keep it around 60 degrees

Steve :steering:

docmow

i have a 45x40 with 14 ft walls iam useing a 12000.btu from the house when got new one ducted it and run through the wall so heat rizes and floor feels warmer
now to save money for air condisioning but if iwas doing it again for cost reasons i would ues a unit heater also you might want to price a higher celing
so you can use a lift if you want i only whent so high for reasle value for you now can put in a motor home cost only 1000.00 more

toyvet1

I have a 24 x 32 three car garage. on insulation is in the attic maybe 10 inch's. I use a Modine Hot Dawg that is 75,000 btu. I could have gotten away with 50,000. but cost was so small I got the larger...

427V8

get one that hangs from the ceiling. There are too many combustable fumes near the floor in a garage!
Also Powervents are nice, you can run them through the wall so you don't have roof leaks to worry about.

Oh and run it off natural gas if you can ( or whatever your house uses) so you don't have to remember to refill the stupid tank!

LAvetteman

24x30 = 720 square feet. A 80,000 btu should be plenty. If there is a 60,000 btu available, I would go with that. That way it doesn't "short cycle" (on/off/on) too much.

If you go with a house style (upflow) furnace, I recommend American Standard or Trane. Ballpark cost, $500-$1,000. Depending on the generosity of the dealer and how much of the install you do yourself.


[Modified by LAvetteman, 9:49 PM 9/4/2003]


[Modified by LAvetteman, 9:53 PM 9/4/2003]

Big Fish

Go with the recommendation "James" had above in the 75,000 BTU size (or close to that) Almost 30 years in the HVAC business and I haven't seen anything better then those, especially with your low ceiling height. A better type of heat would be a radiant floor, or a combination of both is better still. How much do you want to spend?

mrvette

I forget what the BTU was for sure, but I THINK it was fairly standard for a 1500 ft house up in Maryland...about 135,000 BTU.....which was way-ho overpowered for that garage, in about 5 minits, it could run me outta there, and that's with running 4---8" pipes through ceiling vents, which I didn't see the point in doing, just leave the stack open on top with an air deflector aimed to the room...maybe one pipe along the wall to say the door side of the garage, at most....

I think the stp man there has plenty of heating capacity at 80,000 BTU....

GENE